Galway In Days Gone By

Plenty of fish

That there are plenty of fish in the sea around the Irish coasts, that the industry, next only in importance to agriculture, has unlimited possibilities, and that it remains undeveloped solely because of lack of funds and enterprise are well understood facts.

The official report of Mr. Finian Lynch, Minister of Fisheries, upon his recent tour around the Saorstát coast, tends to emphasise those facts.

The fishermen have had four bad years. Whilst foreign trawlers are lying derelict because their owners are unable to equip them and are only able to continue their trade in small fishing boats. If our fishermen are to succeed, they must put new enterprise and energy into their work; they must follow the shoals.

For this purpose, they must have the boats and the equipment. The £5,000 available for loans this year is almost exhausted. We think the £10,000 that Mr. Lynch requires “to put the fishermen in a position to follow their calling” should be forthcoming without a moment’s unnecessary delay.

Pictured: Dancers from the Castlegar GAA Club who won the Connacht Final of the senior eight hand figure dance at Scór 1976. Front, from left: Christina Staunton, Eileen Kennedy, Kathleen Ryan and Eileen Reardon. Back: Stephen Francis, Club Chairman, Ann Marie Hanley, Deirdre Coyne, Bernie O'Brien, Mary O'Brien and Eileen Hanley.